TURF GOSSIP

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 149, 23 June 1906, Page 11

TURF GOSSIP

The well known sporting writer, the "Special Commissioner," In mentioning that Cornstalk, a four-year-old son of Trenton and Glare (dam of Flair), was being retired to the stud, consequent on going wrong, says that he is as good-looking a horse as man could wish to see, but the oad luck which seems to attach to all Trenton's sous in England has "done him in" just when the prospect seemed bright. Mr Henning has freely used his Tr-entou horse, Fouudling, this season, having put six of his best mares to him. Foundling was another victim to bad luck, and he and Cornstalk are a good deal like one another. So bad. however, has been Mr Hennlng's luck that an attack of inflvtenxa which visited his stable last November left all his ■ old horses except Airship hors tic combat. Rouge Croix and the rest nave become more or less urTected in their wind, and Nottingham, a grand-looking son of Gailinule and River Trent (sister 1a blood to Wakeful), Is now a bad roarer. The following will interest your readers, and I thiuk (says a correspondent of the "London Sportsman") is worthy of a , place in your valuable paper. Swag, a brown mare. 17 years old, by Macbeath out of Booty, which I sold at tbe last Horse Show sales iv Dublin, covered by Sir Hugo, to Mr Cotton for exportation to Queensland, wits iusured by li.in with Messrs Dalgoty and Co.. 9i>, iiisho'.isgate-st. Vvithin, Loudon, who have forwaidcd mc the following letter: — "It may be interesting to you to know that the in foal mare Swag, which I insured through you and brought out with mc In the s.s. Moravian, slipped four filly foals — three chestnuts and one brown — 10 days after arrival here. As your risk expired the day she arrived safely here, I can unfortunately make no claim under the policy. She foaled six weeks before her time, and I am afraid testing so often with the Mallein test (four times) in Sydney may have had something to do with it, but this is only a surmise." The ma.-c slipped twins twice while I had her in 1900 and 1905, and had dead foals in 1893, 1804, and 1898, which I think was a good d«n"i due to her excitability. I think the case is a record cue. Tho English "Sporting Times'' has the following: Xo greater balderdash was e\er written than the following, which appeared tn the sportiug artiwte in "Truth": "The majority of owners now on the Turf, including many rich men. look upon their racing as a purely business affair, a mere gamble into which no idea of true sport ercr enters, the achievement of a coup being the aim and end of their enterprises." If the writer ir> "Truth" is the man we believe him to be, we know that he knows better. His -words grossly misrepresent the present state of the Turf, and convey the most misleading ideas concerning it as it existed in the real days of "coups." During a more than ordinarily long experience, never did we know so many owners who ran their horses altogether independently of money considerations as now. So far from the majority of them having no ideas beyond being able to gamble on a coup which was the end and aim of their enterprise, we have more than enough fingers on our two hands to count off the owners who may be. said to be actuated by these principles, and we should have to take some on suspicion at that. When horses that could have won the Darby and St. Leger are not started for those races in order that a coup maybe brought off with them in a handicap, these horses are run for the purpose of getting money and not for sport. Of recent years we have known of no such instance, but thirty or forty years ago we did. At that time, and for years before then, horses were run time after time without once trying to win. and when at length these were turned t loose in a handicap, and a huge fortune was won on ■ i hem. there was no one in authority to ask j any questions. With horses running in | that manner now the stewards of the Jockey Club woud call upon the owner for explanatious. On the question of close finishes, the "Sporting Times" says: — "Judges are not infallible, otherwise numbers that have been hoisted would never have been altered. The wonder really ia that so few mistakes are made. Amusing descriptions have been given to us of Mr George Payne and Mr Greville when they acted as judges in the Fyfield trials of their, own horses. One would stand on one side of the course and the other on the other side, and after the horses had passed them they Mould have quite an altercation as to which had won. On another occasion of a very important trial Mr Payne went to the starting post and Mr Greviiie. who was judge, climbed a ladder by a haystack. Mr Payne galloped up to know what had won. and found Mr preTille battling with ,-n Inverness cape that a high wind had blown over his head inconsequence of which he had seen nothing of tho trial. For the Derby of 1830 we drew a horse called Ticket of Leave in a 'sweep.' and received second money. This we had to oui= indignation to refund, as two or three days later it was declared that the judge had made a mistake, and Marionette was second. Looking back on that event, what strikes us with astonishment is that though the Derby was run on Wednesday, the correction was not made until after the Oaks on Friday. When Croagh Patrick won the Stewards' Cap at 2nnfE.°°f a *\ d , h ? was ob Jected to, some months elapsed before a decision was given For the Derby of 1863 Lord Glasgow ran three horses, aud Mr Clark put up the number of Clarion as third. It should have tu,f^ B t£ r Khone " We recollect an old father IISPi V s a stol 7 of Jud s e Clark's rathe, and a horse called Ambrose who belonged to Lord' Exeter. He'run any Sn.V/mSS tin^ S ' and Was ~S*intS get y Ung second. Eventually he won a race hv twenty length., which was th? only rate he ever am win; but the judge did not ll„ na a^in a " C ° nfUSed "** Ketflffi i a n nd «&. ffi gone during the last eenturv none hfs ? JS£ approached the record made by the Vrlltl sportsman. M. Edmond Blanc, ataft Kur* chased the celebrated English raortiS?« Flying Fox for £87.500. th! greatest JXI yet paid for a thoroughbred" ¥? iflauc has been for many years connected with the turf as breeder and owner. Foilowlmr his ownjdeas he bred a few winners and when the "Figure Guide" was published he was one of those that denounced the SS*° rB 1 5 eo8 L^ ith vision. But as time went on he became a convert, as a little study satisfied him that the "Figure Guide was of ?reat assistance to breeder or buyer, and the British community can in-a measure, lay blame to Bruce and his teachings for the loss of the greatest stalhon-'bar Stockwell and St. Simon-tbe world has produced. Flying Fox. being a winner r- the Triple Crown (Two Thousand Guineas. Derby and St. Leger). the Grosve nor family were desirous of buying him in at the sale ot the late Duke of Westminster's Bind, but the F-«nchman would not b« choked off. and this gem of gems went to France. With the progeny of Firing Fox M. Blanc has won the original cost of the hor"e more than twice over, and recently R:.hl four of his eons—Jardy Val d'Or. Adnm, and Vicinius—for about £fH.,000, and retains the best of his colts. Ajnx. to keep the sire coTrrrany. Sportins France is looking for a second Firing Fox in Ajax. Writing of M. E lane "and his atud the ." special commissioner" for the " London Sportsnran" in a recent issue of his paper thns concluded his remarks thereupon:—"Does not all this show how the French are gom* ahead, and in a measure attracting the blood stock to thedr country. That they cannot permanently do so Is the accident of climate, but from their State support of racing and horse-breedinjr they deserve to knock us right out. M. Edmond Blanc has 63 brood m'?-es in his latest book, and how seriously he has studied the figures. Time was when hr | did not believe In Bruce Lowe, but when he found tha* French classic results a'most iexactly corroborated the ' Figure Guide' as Tit first constituted he quite reconsidered his opposition. Tt° only running family ; not np to the mark in France was No. (4), 'and that for the simple reason that there I were but v<-ry few mare 3of this figure. IM. Blanc set himself to remedy this, nnd has now ten No. 4 mares at his own stud. If other French breeders were to follow M Eflmond Blanc's example No,. 4 family wonld aoon be establiahed in that eonnttT on its proper level." .

BY 'TVHALEBONE."

Thus the "Sporting Chronicle" on the starting gate: It will probably be within the recollection oi our readers that, following the adoption of the starting gate in this country, and after sufficient time had elapsed to permit of comparisons being made between the old and the new systems, we invited expressions of opinion on tha subject from trainers and managera of racing stables. We were able to gaiu the instructive information that while the innovation was favourably received by the majority who were good enough to respond, It was by many still deemed worthy of further experiment, with a view to possible improvement. Even la those days— three years ago—lt was freely recognised Iby men who are qunlllled to give judgment that whilst the adoption of the gate mada for better observance of punctual starting, while It materially Tedueed the possibility of horses' tempers being Irritated by repeated false alarms, and while it gave th« boys a be-tter chance of getting away on terms with their more experienced rivuls, the standing start tad its drawbacks. What those drawbacks are has been made so manifest that we do not propose to re--1 traverse wearisome ground by referring to them. It will be. sufficiently illustrative of tho feeling of the time if we say that the majority of trainers and others whose opinions were sought were in favour of the starting gate, with certain modifications in the system of operating the same, aud we may gick out a few of there-plies with which we were then favoured:— S. G. Pickering (XewmarKet): I think that instead of starting the horses with their noses touching the tape, they should be walked up to it, or nearly up to it; them, when the starter thinks they are in line, the barrier should be raised. P. P. Peebles (Lyddington): I consider that with a field of fractious horses the starter would do better to send them all back thirty or forty yards, walk them up, and at any point, if in line, raise his gate. Many bad horses at the gate, if treated in this way a few times, would get confidence. T. Leader (Newmarket): The horses should be allowed to walk up and start from the walk—of course at the discretion of the starter. Races of more than a mile should be stated hy flag. G. Saunders Davies (Michel Grove): Horses to be sent back about ten yards, to be walked up, and the gate to be released when the starter sees they are in a fair line. Xo horses can be expected to stand still for long, especially when trainers try to get them as fresh 7ns they can, and as much on their toes as possible—which makes the present system impossible. J. Chandler (Lamboura): I consider it better to allow the horses to walk up as so many will not stand absolutely still with their noses on the tape. H. Bates (Lambourn): Horses will walk up well with others, but will not stand still as required now with their noses on the tape. When they do go from a stand they frequently bunch up together and some never get on their legs. • S lu Loates (Newmarket): I am a believer in the starting gate and also the standing start. • A. Sadler, jun. (Newmarket): I am ia favour of the standing start, providing the starter ia given the power (and uses it) of leaving any horses which do not stand perfectly still within any five minutes of the other horses having lined up. It is very easy for him to spot those which upset the quiet ones. The general rule now, however, is that those horses which wall not go near the gate for perhaps ten minutes get first away, and those which have been standing perfectly quiet naturally cannot get into their stride like their fellows who are on the move. The whole thing rests with the starter being given this power,, and using it. Mr. L. E. B. Homan: I am in favour of the standing start.. The gate is all-night If horses are thoroughly well schooled to it, and has been so long dn use now that there should be very few old horses which have had to take to it late in life. In my opinion the starters do not make sufficient use of their power where refractory horses are concerned, for we very often see the most dncorrigible horses get the best start. Further, could not an improvement be made if the starter were behind his field —with an assistant to pull the gate when he drops his red flag? it should be easier to control .the jockeys in that way than from the raised platform now in use. If a trial were given to the walk-up start you would find the greatest difficulty in confining horses to that. It would soon develop into si galloping start. F. Vi'. Day : I am in favour of the standing start. The walk-up start would be best, but all efforts I have seen in that way have failed. I consider the starting gate a great improvement on the old flag system. J. Cannon (Newmarket): I am of opinion that if the horses could be got to stand a little distance away from the tape dt >vould ' be much better, and they would not be so ' liable to jump off sideways or hang fire '. so much, as they do with their noses ali m6st touching it when it goes up. I think : t-hs starter should have the power to start i with or without the gate, as he thought - fit, .and especially in long distance races, i where the gate is of no use. '< R. W. Armstrong (Penrith): I am in • favour of the standing start. I often go 1 to -the starting post, and several -times last : year was surprised to notice in the papers ' the following morning that such and such a race was Indifferently started. It i might appear so from the stands, but such i was not the case. When the barrier went • up the horses were all standing in a line > and jumped off together, but one or two of ; them which were very quick from the > mark drew or.t from the rest, and this might make It loot an Indifferent start. I ■ • declare to you, however, that such was not ' the case. 1 am thoroughly satisfied there i is no fault .with the gate \or the starting. > We always saw, and always Willi see, some : horses much quicker away than' others. We never had such good starting as at the present time. In practising" my horses at the gate. I find that I get a better start from the horses standing than what I Co from them walking up, for the simple reason the bojs will try and " pinch" a start ' if possible. Mr George J. ThuTSby (Boveridge): Why not at least try. the walk-up start? We could always go back to the standing start should the" other not prove satisfactory. I • have advocated trying the -walk-up start, even from the first. W. R. Baker (ColUnghourno): I find at ■ home that horses will walk up to the'gate quietly, when they will not stand there, ' and think, at any rate, the walk-up start ! should be given a trial. But starting will ' always be a difficulty in any case, as many horses will always be fractions when they know thpy are going to race, and especiallyafter having had two or three severe races. ■ Again, many horses that stand quietly at the gate at home are just the reverse when ■ on a racecourse. E. Martin (Roystou): I hm of opinion that 1 a wr.lking-up start is much fairer to all horses, as no horse starts well from a stand-still, and especially big horses. A stand-still start is .1 great strain on the hocks; moreover. It is liable to rick a horse's hack as well as spoil his temper. A horse jumps off "in freut," and, so to speak, leaves his hind part behind him when the gate goes up. This I can vouch for from experience in riding races myself with the gate. I hare never ridden a horse that jumped away properly from a standstill start. I think if horses were collected SO yards behind the gate and allowed to walk a few yards there would be better ' starts. It would not be necessary to walk right up to the gate, but the starter could pull the lever at the first opportunity before reaching the barrier. It will be gathered from the foregoing that there is a minority which still favours the standing start, notwithstanding that the disadvantages oi the latter have been so repeatedly Illustrated. This minority ; includes one-time jockeys like Loatcs and Armstrong, and their judgment calls for nothing but respect, for Loates at least haa had the opportunity of testing both systems In public. Armstrong, too, who in his time has had the patching np of •j more infirm and broken-down racers than j probably any other two trainers the Tpresent generation has known, should be j entitled to speak as to any ll'-effects-r-I strained ligaments, ricked bacliß, and so on I —sope of which, it Is argued, attend the sudden jumping away from tha barrier. He haa, however, no complaint* to make on this head.